Broken: Day 14

Word Count: 84,003

Summary of Events:

Arina woke up on the ground having slept through her transformation; Samuil was able to get her onto the roof and into the palace. Emil started into the dancing while trying to think of how he was going to word his pledge of love. Arina and Samuil, having dined separately from Emil, realised they were late for the ball and also realised that King Sevastian and Anastasia must've found out their plan; Arina burst into the ballroom moments after Emil inadvertently pledged his love to Isidora, leaving Emil unsure of whether he'd pledged his love to the right one, so he asked Samuil to uncover their disguises . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"Let all who are unnatural in their appearance take on their natural appearance," Samuil declared.

There was a small flash close to Emil and a larger flash at the doors.

Horrified rage consumed Emil when he saw that the girl still touching him merely had her eye colour revert to its natural golden, while the girl at the doors had everything but her eye colour change and stood before him as Arina. The one he'd meant to pledge his love to.

Before he could do anything a chuckle sounded and he snapped his head to look at King Sevastian, who was smiling.

"We're not as stupid as you had thought Your Majesty," he said, still smiling. "Anastasia has been keeping an eye on Arina for some time, and she overheard your plans when you examined Arina to see how the spell on her could be broken, so we came up with our own plan to keep your plan from succeeding, and it is, in fact, our plan that has succeeded."

"How dare you deceive the Imperial Heir!" Emil shouted.

"It was what needed to be done Your Majesty," King Sevastian replied with an air of smug nonchalance. "We couldn't have you go marrying the wrong girl."

"You know not who is right for me!" Emil shouted. "Nor know you who is wrong for me! You know only who is right or wrong for your own selfish aims! I will not do what you wish, I will do what I wish! I do not wish to marry Isidora! I wish to marry the one to whom I pledged my love: I mean to marry Arina Stanislavovna!"

"You really mean to put such a smear on the Imperial House?" King Sevastian asked.

"I put no smear on it!" Emil retorted.

"Oh but you do Your Majesty," King Sevastian said. "I have my doubts Arina told you the truth. She's always been a terrible liar."

Arina looked at King Sevastian with horror. Emil saw tears springing to her eyes.

"I do not believe a word from her mouth to be falsehood," Emil declared; after all, Samuil had told him that Charodei couldn't lie in the presence of another of their kind, and neither in the presence of Samuil when he'd examined her or now — where she was in the presence of Samuil and Anastasia — was Arina confessing anything she'd said as a part of her story to be a lie."

"You believe the word of a murderess?" King Sevastian asked.

Everyone in the room gasped.

"How dare you put such a charge on her," Emil spat. "Who do you believe she murdered?"

"The child I shall eternally rue adopting, Arina Stanislavovna, murdered her mother Rosalia Lazarevna, in childbirth, causing both Rosalia and my only son, Sevastian Sevastianovich, to die," King Sevastian declared. "Because she could not bear to share her mother with me, much less with a brother."

Pronunciations:

Rosalia: rohzahlyah

Lazarevna: lahzahrehvnah

Sevastianovich: sehvahst'yahnohvich